The Council of the Union European (EU) is lying when it says that the agreement signed with the dictatorship of Raúl Castro in Brussels on 12 December, which put an end to the Common Position adopted in 1996, aims to "strengthen democracy and respect for human rights" in Cuba, as alleged by the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 16 December 2016 — In the Marxist catechism it is established that the material is first, over the spiritual. From this conceptual Big Bang, is structured a doctrine in which all categories are concatenated more or less harmoniously; social property over the means of production, the fundamental law of socialist distribution, and the dictatorship of the proletariat.

From this key starting point it is explained that matrimonial fidelity is due to the appearance of private property, and that the ambition for riches will only be overcome in the human condition when material goods flow like a river due to the increased productivity that comes as a fruit of dominion over nature.

For the faithful followers of this form of thinking, joy in human beings is nothing more than the result of drinking alcoholic beverages in an environment where there is music and jokes, social contacts, smiles, cheers and laughter. That is, people do not drink, sing and laugh because they are happy, but the other way around.

At the end of December, Cubans usually indulge their desire to celebrate. Christmas and New Year's come together to promote gift giving, Christmas Eve feasts, improvised choirs of nostalgic carols, resolutions for the future, furtive kisses at midnight, buckets of water thrown into the street to wash away the year's evils, and taking a walk with a suitcase as an expression of the desire to take a magical trip to another part of the world.

With this cornucopia, joy prevails and bottles are uncorked, while others eat or dance and someone opens the door to receive the latest guest who didn't want to miss the feast in which the discomfort of daily life is temporarily relegated to the background.

However, in these days that are left of the month of December, on the pretense of a tragic reason, from certain more or less official bodies, "the order has come down" to moderate the joy, postpone the parrandas, ban celebrations at workplaces and schools. Rumors are rife that alcohol will disappear as of the 20th, there will be no fireworks, and no loud music, not even within one's own home.

Marxists are like that. They are intimately convinced that by eliminating or undermining "the material basis of joy" they can prevent joy from rising in hearts, crush feelings of gratitude for life itself, and smother the sparks of hope that light the way. At the end of the day, they maintain, the material is above the spiritual.

'El Sexto's' American Lawyer and Two Activists Arrested in Havana / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Miami, 16 December 2016 – Kimberly Motley, an American attorney, and the activists Gorki Aguila and Luis Alberto Marino were arrested this Friday as they prepared to hold a press conference outside the Provincial Court in from of the Capitol Building in Havana. The Cubans were taken to the Zanja police station, but there is no information about the whereabouts of the American lawyer.

"They were going to give a press conference about the situation of Danilo Maldonado, 'El Sexto,' who the authorities accuse of damage to public property," according to Rosa Maria Paya, president of the Latin American Network of Youth for Democracy, who spoke to 14tmedio by phone. Motley also intended to take on the defense of Eduardo Cardet, National Coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL).

Cardet his been under arrest since 30 November for "his political activity of leadership within the MCL" according to the Paya. He is accused of "assault," a crime that carries a prison sentence from one to three years.

On 26 November, El Sexto was arrested after painting several graffiti on the walls of the Habana Libre Hotel, reading "se fue" (He's gone), and loaded a video to his Facebook profile celebrating the death of Fidel Castro.

Recently he was transferred to Combinado del Este, a high security prison in Havana.

Young women connect from a cellphone in a newly enabled wifi zone in Cuba, where one hour's connection cost the equivalent of two days' pay. Mario Felix Lleonart, 14 December 2016 — Google recently signed an agreement with ETECSA, Cuba's telecommunications monopoly, owned by the Castros. As of 2011, when the owners of the country bought out the 27% interest in ETECSA maintained by Telecom Italy, there have not been as many expectations as now.

Then, after the Italians took off with their 706 million dollars, the lucrative business without competition became a goldmine for the Castro family, and at the same time guaranteed the maximum censorship possible.

Since then the ETECSA monopoly has not taken a single step to diminish censorship, or to diminish its capital. In addition to a political victory, it will now also benefit from this agreement with Google. For some time the international telecommunications giant has been visiting the island and its proposals, in principal, sought to procure the maximum benefits for the Cuban people, but ultimately they signed what ETECSA's owners allowed them to.

From now on Google will be forced to provide the information the island's regime requires from them, about "suspicious websurfers," as it does with any governments with whom it signs agreements like this. Now the censorship will occur with the complicity of Google who negotiates with the Castro regime, the absolute owner of ETECSA. As if ETECSA were a reputable company, and as if the Havana regime was a good government.

Personally I am curious if, at least to dissimulate, ETECSA will again permit access to my blog from the island, forbidden according to reports received, since the death of the tyrant, or to other sites blocked for a long time now, such as the digital newspaper 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez's blog Generation Y, or pages such as MartiNoticias.com. I think that experts such as Sebastian Arcos Cazabon or Raudel Garcia Bringas, interviewed by Marti Noticias, are right when they affirm that this agreement between ETECSA and Google will not solve the problem.

Meanwhile, and far beyond this story, but perhaps for reasons of geopolitics, today this blog, Confessing Cuba, was attacked from Ukraine (see screenshot below), although thanks to the protection of WordPress and its BPS log-in security alert, the pirates didn't manage to get what they wanted. Hopefully those on the island, ETECSA and its owners, will soon no longer always get away with what they want.

14ymedio, Havana, 15 December 2016 –The leader of the Ladies in White, Berta Soler, was arrested Thursday in the morning when she was about to leave the headquarters of the organization in the neighborhood of Lawton, Havana, in order to connect to the Internet.

Angel Moya, a former prisoner of the Cause of 75 from the 2003 Black Spring and Soler's husband, told this newspaper that neighborhood witnesses confirmed to him that the arrest had been made with excessive use of force. "She was arrested violently, neighbors testify that they even beat her," says the dissident who was not at home at the time of arrest.

Moya speculates that Soler was taken to the detention center in Alamar, but was unable to confirm the information.

The former prisoner of the Black Spring told 14ymedio that the Ladies in White movement has not programmed any activities for today. "Right now, the only thing Berta did was to launch a call for Tuesday, 19 December, at two in the afternoon in Central Park, for the traditional Literary Tea, if State Security continues to operate around the group's headquarters in Lawton, and prevents the activists from accessing it.

Around two in the afternoon the political police arrested another Lady in White, Marlen Gonazalez, when she went out with her husband to buy food at the agricultural market. "A patrol car came and asked for her ID card and they took her prisoner," said her neighbors in the San Miguel de Padron area.

While all this was going on, at Jose Marti Airport the activist Jose Diaz Silva, a Cuban delegate to the Democracy Movement, he was approached by police before taking a flight to the United States. According to a report from the dissident, the officials warned him that on his return from Miami he would encounter very serious reprisals and that from now on the opposition's "days are numbered."

The latest report of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) said that during November there were at least 359 arbitrary arrests of peaceful opponents on the island, over a hundred cases fewer than in October. However, the independent organization warns of a possible increase in repression following the death of former President Fidel Castro.

Fernando Damaso, 14 December 2016 — It seems that, the nine days of national mourning having ended, it is now extended into interminable grief, imposed by the official media, trying to sanctify the image of the deceased with a virtual eternity. It gives the strange sensation that his spirit continues to govern the country, and that he is the one dictating orders and regulations.

Violating the most elemental limits of reason, the idea has arisen of including his ideas in the curriculum of every university major this coming year, taking into account the "genius" of his content that, ironically, led the country to misery and has made it one of the worst economies in the world.

Documentaries, books, poems, articles, photographs, paintings and songs beset Cuba's citizens day and night, repeated many times, causing rejection rather than acceptance, and everything related to him has quickly become part of the island's "choteo," an unending stream of bitter humor. You just have to walk our streets with an attentive ear.

Excesses always bring bad results and are paid for dearly. This is something the Cuban authorities should know, after so many years of exercising power.

Cuban graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado Machado ('El Sexto') – named a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International in 2015 – was re-arrested on 26 November, shortly after the announcement of Fidel Castro's death.

Cuban graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado Machado (also known as 'El Sexto') was arrested at his home in Havana, the capital, at approximately 11.15 am on 26 November, hours after the announcement of Fidel Castro's death. Danilo Maldonado was on the phone with his girlfriend when state officials forced their way into his apartment.

According to his mother, Maria Victoria Machado, she and his sister were initially unable to locate him, before they eventually located him at a prison later that afternoon. Danilo Maldonado's mother says he is currently detained in Guanabacoa, Eastern Havana. When Maria Machado visited him on 27 November, officials did not give reasons for his arrest.

On 26 November, according to Cuba-based newspaper 14 y medio, Danilo Maldonado had graffitied the words "He's gone" (Se fue) on a wall in Havana. The news outlet reported that El Sexto's graffiti was one of the first public demonstrations outside of the state-organized demonstrations of mourning following the announcement of Fidel Castro's death.

Short-term arbitrary arrests remain a common tactic to restrict freedom of expression in Cuba. In October, the Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation, which like other human rights organizations is not recognized by Cuban authorities, reported 620 arbitrary detentions of peaceful protestors and opposition activists.

Provisions of the Cuban Criminal Code, such as contempt of a public official (desacato), resistance to public officials carrying out their duties (resistencia) and public disorder (desórdenes públicos) are frequently used to stifle free speech, assembly and association.

Please write immediately in Spanish or your own language:

 Calling on the authorities to release Danilo Maldonado Machado ('El Sexto') immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression;

 Calling on them to guarantee the right to freedom of expression, including for dissident, opponent or activist voices.

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

URGENT ACTION

CUBAN GRAFFITI ARTIST ARRESTED AGAIN

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

On 20 October 2015, Cuban graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado Machado ('El Sexto') was released after spending almost 10 months in prison without trial following accusations of "aggravated contempt". Amnesty International considered him a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression (see: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/2710/2015/en/).

Danilo Maldonado Machado was accused of "aggravated contempt" after being arrested on 25 December 2014 for transporting two pigs with the names "Raúl" and "Fidel" painted on them, which he intended to release in an art show in Havana's Central Park. He was never formally charged nor brought before a court during the almost 10 months he spent in detention.

14ymedio, Rolando Gallardo, Quito, 14 December 2016 — I wake up and I see a report on the arrival of a group rafters on the coast of Miami. I'm surprised by the open declaration of one of them, who confesses having left Cuba in search of a better future, but says he has nothing against Fidel Castro. His words set me to meditating.

The Cuban Adjustment Act is a good deed on the way to hell. Thousands of Cubans arrive in the United States every year to take advantage of its benefits. Its repeal is a taboo subject among the exile and the emigration. Those who say they are in favor of its elimination or reform from abroad, receive avalanches of criticism and support, demonstrating the division of opinions about it.

The government of the island ascribes to the Cuban Adjustment Act the main reason for the exodus, dismissing internal conditions and policies that cause people to leave, this being a long-time strategy of the regime: Someone else is always to blame.

Authorized voices within the Cuban-American political establishment, such as Senator Marco Rubio, call for a revision of the Cuban Adjustment Act on the basis that not all Cubans arriving in the United States and claiming refuge under it meet the conditions to apply for asylum, and many of them demonstrate their political apathy by returning to the island as soon as they obtain a US residence permit, discrediting their supposed condition as a politically persecuted person.

Since the beginning of the most recent migration crisis in November of 2015, the division among Cubans stranded in Costa Rica and Panama is evident.

One group reaffirms, recklessly and motivated by an ignorance of the nature of the Adjustment Act, that they are economic migrants, which strengthens the arguments of the regime about the causes of illegal immigration.

Others, however, say that they left Cuba because of its repressive policies, lack of political and economic freedoms, and the impoverishment of the country, something imposed by an internal blockade that has plunged the Cuban people into despair.

Both sides agree that this mass escape was motivated by the fear of political transformations that would be generated by the "thaw," leaving them inside a nation that sees no long-term changes in the relationship between the government and the people.

It is legitimate to question whether the Cuban Adjustment Act should continue under the current terms. The receiving government spends an annual average of 500 million dollars in aid to the "Cuban refugees." Some estimates indicate that, from 2014 to late 2016, the United States has allocated 1.5 billion dollars for monetary aid for the first six months, food stamps for three months which are renewable for longer, health insurance for ten months for adults and more health insurance assistance for children, as well as supplementary services for the elderly.

Does every Cuban deserve such kindness? The final saga of the migratory crisis, which has had its most recent and dire chapter in Ecuador, demonstrated that some members of the regime are parasites benefitting from the Cuban Adjustment Act. They waste no time in leaving behind the claws of the tiger, and brazenly appear among the voices clamoring for an airlift to continue their journey to the United States, while in Cuba they were persecutors of the Ladies in White, Cuban counterintelligence officials, members of the National Assembly of People's Power, and militant communist/opportunists who, tired of the perks of the regime, head north to take advantage of other perks in "la Yuma" – the United States. Many of them, who denied there was a political motive to this breakout, are now in the United States enjoying government help.

Another group, misunderstood and attacked, launched itself in courageous though reckless protest against the Cuban embassy in Quito, showing the political nature of the exodus and starring in one of the never before seen historic feats of the emigration. Unfortunately, it is an event little spoken of. Many of the protesters were deported to Cuba. Another group of people and protagonists of the protest camp in Quito's Arbolito Park are already in the United States, justifying with their actions and political stance that they deserve the benefits of the Cuban Adjustment Act.

I support reform of the terms of the Cuban Adjustment Act. It is not fair that the American taxpayers' money goes into the hands of those who enjoyed communism and now want to enjoy capitalism without deserving to. It is not fair that economic emigrants and future speculators head back to the island with their recently obtained residence permits, trampling on the spirit that gave rise to the law. Those who are unscrupulous and reject with their behavior – far from that of the politically persecuted – the refuge offered to them, should have their status reassessed.

I do not live in the United States and I have not benefited from the Cuban Adjustment Act, nor do I consider myself politically persecuted, despite my actions and opinions, but I condemn those who mock the law and discredit the support and sustenance that the United States government has offered to our people in the hard years of the exodus, which sadly does not end.

Cubalex, Havana, 14 December 2016 – In Cuba there are no conditions under which economic, social and cultural rights can be exercised. "All Cubans have free healthcare and education," is a claim that is easily refuted. We continue the debate with another question: Who decided we Cubans could not invest in a hotel or form joint ventures with the state?

First absolute silence, then a bombardment of stones. In the end, Pedro threw a pea! The National Assembly and the Council of State are those who dictate the laws, he responded, doubtfully.

"Have you read any law that says Cubans cannot invest in the national economy?" the professor asked. No, but the law is called "The Law of Foreign Investment" and it assumes that only they can participate in the national economy at the same level as the Cuban government.

Is it fair? He asked again. No, he said. Do you believe it is a violation of human rights? He continued interrogating him. I don't know, he replied, annoyed. He approached him and slapped his shoulder twice. Yes, the state excludes us, discriminates against us, he said, while looking at him and nodding.

"We all have the right to equality and non-discrimination. It is a universally recognized right," explained the professor while walking back and forth in the improvised classroom. The critics of this law call it Cuban Apartheid. Do they know this is a crime in the current Cuban Penal Code?

I leave them to their first task: reading paragraph (b) of Part 1 of Article 120 of the Penal Code. Explain in 140 characters, that is in a Tweet, if the situation just described could define the crime called "Crime of Apartheid." See you next Wednesday. Don't miss it!

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